nVidia Optimus - Any way to manually switch between GPUs?

[FelixC]

Apologies if this is an intensely stupid question and I've missed something blatantly simple, but so far I haven't been able to figure it out. I just got the Asus N43 (i5 460M, nVidia 435M), and while I see an option in the context menu to launch an application directly on the discrete graphics unit, and I suspect it would also automatically switch to it under load (haven't yet hat the time to try a game out on it), I haven't found any option to switch between integrated and discrete manually and independently of applications. Like, if I'd just like to have it running on the 435M all the time for whatever reasons. Power4Gear lists some power plans for the Intel integrated graphics, and there's also a dedicated control panel for it running in my taskbar, but neither seem to have any options to switch to the dedicated nVidia GPU.

So where should I be looking?

[farful]

There should be an option to always use the iGPU.

There is not an option to always use the dGPU.

[Nautis]

There is no way to manually switch with Optimus per-say. Optimus is meant to be automatic and seamless. It switches based on rules/profiles and monitors certain things to automatically switch.

You can set rules/profiles for which GPU to use by right clicking the application icon and choosing "run with graphics processor" (or something like that) or using the nvidia control panel.

Video Tutorial for more help -> Nvidia Optimus Tutorial - Youtube

At least that is my understanding I don't have Optimus so I might be off a little.

[FelixC]

Ah, alright, thanks for the info guys! It's a bit of a bummer that there's no global manual switch. The issue that kind of drew my attention is that I think that Optimus might not have kicked in with the Unity Web Player earlier today, since it seemed to be running the streaming demo with low resolution settings, big difference to the way it ran on my desktop. The Asus actually does have an LED indicator for which GPU is in use, but I only thought about the issue after the fact and I don't remember whether it was on or not. I'll check Unity again tomorrow though, I might be imagining things.

[strangerguy]

You can force it use Nvidia or Intel GPU for a specific application in the NV control panel if the GPU switching is out of whack. For me I forced Optimus to use Intel IGP with IE8 because it was running on the GT420M whenever I used Youtube. It basically eating up battery power for nothing.

[MrDJ]

on the GS710/B7110M clevo there is a button that changes it to the dedicated 425M but as mentioned above the idea is it knows when it needs more power and switches automatically.

[jacob808]

The Toshiba X505 doesn't have the optimus user interface on the Nvidia control panel to switch between integrated or discrete gpu. The notebook is also incompatible with the new verde 260.99 driver, so I can't install it and get the optimus user interface. Any ideas what else I can disable optimus, because it makes my games unplayable when I unplug my X505.

[FelixC]

Okay, I was right, the dedicated GPU won't kick in for the Unity Web Player. Worse still, starting Firefox with the Use nVidia Dedicated Graphics from the context menu doesn't seem to make a difference, still running on the integrated graphics core. It does switch for standalone games, though, just checked with Metro 2033.

[onetrev]

Same issues for me. I have a Dell XPS 17 (L701X) with Optimus -- NVIDIA 435M. I can't seem to force the dedicated card to come on when I need it to, i.e. using the Unity Web Player, but then it comes on when I don't need it to when it is playing a basic flash video.

Doesn't matter if I set Chrome for example to always use dedicated card in the nVidia Control Planel, or I use the context menu to set Firefox to always use it. I think this is because in the setting nVidia actually has small print below that says "the driver may override this setting". Frustrating! It is a good idea, but at this point I feel like I'm stuck using Intel Graphics when a perfectly good 1GB dedicated card is just sitting there and I have no control over it.

[PellyNV]

Same issues for me. I have a Dell XPS 17 (L701X) with Optimus -- NVIDIA 435M. I can't seem to force the dedicated card to come on when I need it to, i.e. using the Unity Web Player, but then it comes on when I don't need it to when it is playing a basic flash video.

Doesn't matter if I set Chrome for example to always use dedicated card in the nVidia Control Planel, or I use the context menu to set Firefox to always use it. I think this is because in the setting nVidia actually has small print below that says "the driver may override this setting". Frustrating! It is a good idea, but at this point I feel like I'm stuck using Intel Graphics when a perfectly good 1GB dedicated card is just sitting there and I have no control over it.

Hey Onetrev,

Optimus is enabling your GPU because you have Flash 10.1 or 10.2 installed. Because there is GPU hardware acceleration support, Optimus enables the GPU.

As far as the UnityPlayer, I'm looking into this now. I'll respond back asap.

Have a good one...

Sean

Sean Pelletier
Senior Technical Marketing Manager - Notebooks
NVIDIA